1923 Season Recap
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Season started a bit late, so in April there were only 12/13 games for every team. Fast start for the Yankees with a 9-3 record, 2 games ahead of White Sox. Only Browns and Red Sox looked bad, going 3-8 and 4-8 in these first games. To note the 2500 career hits milestone reached by Tris Speaker. In May American League got very thight, with 5 teams in 4 games: Tigers got the lead (26-17), half-game ahead of Indians and 1 game ahead of Yankees. Athletics and Senators were respectively 2 1/2 and 4 games back. Meusel and Ruth led the HR battle while Ken Williams (Browns) was riding a 33 game streak before suffering a season ending injury. Heading into the summer, Indians heated up and took a 3 and half game lead on Tigers (46-25 vs 41-27), with Yankees following 6 1/2 back despite a 10 HR month by Ruth. Speaker and Simmons are still hitting above .400 while Wilbur Cooper (Indians), Hoyt (Yankees) and Sad Sam Jones (Tigers) had already 11 wins. Freddy Leach (White Sox) had a 7 RBI game in June.
Deadline month saw no major moves in trade market, but the standings saw a shakeup: Tigers lead by 2 and half games on Yankees and by 3 games on Indians. With some hope left there were also the Senators (9 game back) while White Sox, Athletics, Browns and Red Sox appeared to be out of contention. No one was hitting over .400 while Ruth already had 24 dingers; in pitching we had Hoyt (Yankees) with 16 wins with still 2 months to go. The dog days of summer continued in august and Tigers dug a hole with the rest of league, going 75-46 with a 7 1/2 game lead on Yankees. Harry Heilmann stood up for the team, raising his avg over .400 and driving home more than 100 runners; in pitching his teammate, Sad Sam Jones, raised his level, leading the AL with a 3.04 ERA. While many expected a Yankees furious comeback, Tigers put on a show finishing the season with a 102-52 record, winning the pennant and going to the world Series, while Yankees were unable to respond and finished 2nd, with 86-68 record. Another 40 HR season for Babe while Harry Heilmann completed his wonderful season with a .404 BA (and 8.6 WAR, second only to Babe Ruth). Hoyt (Yankees) won 25 games, followed by Tigers Duo, Jones and Leonard, with 22 and 21.
COMPLETE STANDINGS
1) Detroit Tigers 102-52
2) New York Yankees 86-68
3) Cleveland Indians 81-73
4) Washington Senators 80-74
5) Chicago White Sox 69-85
6) Philadelphia Athletics 69-85
7) St. Louis Browns 68-86
8) Boston Red Sox 61-93
BATTING AVERAGE
1) Harry Heilmann (Tigers) .401
2) Cotton Tierney (Tigers) .375
3) Babe Ruth (Yankees) .372
HR
1) Babe Ruth (Yankees) 40
2) Jimmy Dikes (Athletics) 22
3) Bill Bagwell (Indians) 17
RBI
1) Bill Bagwell (Indians) 124
2) Jimmy Dikes (Athletics) 124
3) Babe Ruth (Yankees) 121
HITS
1) Harry Heilmann (Tigers) 244
2) Al Simmons (Athletics) 222
3) Joe Sewell (Indians) 215
STOLEN BASES
1) Bucky Harris (Senators) 34
2) Bob Meusel (Yankees) 28
3) Denver Grisby (Athletics) 27
BASES ON BALLS
1) Babe Ruth (Yankees) 140
2) Lu Blue (Indians) 103
3) Bunny Brief (Yankees) 87
ERA
1) Sad Sam Jones (Tigers) 3.00
2) Tom Zachary (Senators) 3.13
3) Bill Piercy (Yankees) 3.21
WINS
1) Waite Hoyt (Yankees) 25
2) Sad Sam Jones (Tigers) 22
3) Dutch H. Leonard (Tigers) 21
K
1) Dutch H. Leonard (Tigers) 138
2) Johnny Enzmann (Browns) 103
3) Bill Bayne (Browns) 100
COMPLETE GAMES
1) Waite Hoyt (Yankees) 23
2) Sad Sam Jones (Tigers) 23
3) Doc Crandall (Senators) 22
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